Film and cameras that are all in one, commonly referred to as one-time-use cameras, have become well known. The one-time-use camera is a simple point-and-shoot type comprising a plastic main body part which supports a conventional film cassette in a cassette receiving or film take-up chamber, an unexposed film roll prewound on a film spool in a film supply chamber from the film cassette, a fixed-focus taking lens, a film metering mechanism with a rotatably supported metering sprocket that engages the filmstrip, a manually rotatable film winding thumbwheel rotatably engaged with a film spool inside the film cassette, a single-blade shutter, a manually depressible shutter release button, a rotatable frame counter for indicating the number of exposures remaining to be made on the filmstrip, a direct see-through viewfinder, and in some models an electronic flash. A pair of plastic front and rear cover parts house the main body part between them to complete the camera unit. The rear cover part connects to the main body part and/or to the front cover part to make the main body part light-tight. A decorative cardboard outer box or label at least partially covers the camera unit and has respective openings for the taking lens, etc.
After each picture is taken with the one-time-use camera, the photographer manually rotates the thumbwheel in a film winding direction to similarly rotate the film spool inside the film cassette. This winds an exposed section of the filmstrip into the film cassette. The rewinding movement of the filmstrip the equivalent of slightly more than one frame width rotates the metering sprocket in engagement with the filmstrip to decrement the frame counter to its next lower-numbered setting and to pivot a metering lever into engagement with the thumbwheel to prevent further manual rotation of the thumbwheel. Manually depressing the shutter release button to take another picture pivots the metering lever out of engagement with the thumbwheel to permit renewed rotation of the thumbwheel. When the maximum number of exposures available on the filmstrip have been made, and the filmstrip is completely wound into the film cassette, the one-time-use camera is given to a photofinisher who tears the outer box off the camera unit, separates the rear cover part from the main body part, and removes the film cassette with the exposed filmstrip from the film take-up chamber. Then, he removes the exposed filmstrip from the film cassette to develop the negatives and make prints for the customer. At least some of the used camera parts may be recycled, i.e. reused, to remanufacture the camera.
More recently, the one-time-use camera has been adapted to be used with the type of film cassette that has a light lock which is to be pivoted closed after the filmstrip is completely wound into the cassette following the last exposure. The light lock must be pivoted closed to prevent ambient light from entering the film cassette when the cassette is removed from the camera. Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,480 issued Mar. 4, 1997 discloses a one-time-use camera for use with this film cassette. The camera includes a film winding thumbwheel in coaxial engagement with a film spool inside the film cassette for rotating the film spool in a film winding direction to progressively wind the filmstrip into the cassette following each exposure, and a closing mechanism having a film sensing component that is spring-urged against the filmstrip as the filmstrip is wound into the cassette and a closing component in rotational engagement with the light lock. The film sensing component determines that the filmstrip is completely wound into the cassette, and the closing component then closes the light lock. When the filmstrip is completely wound into the cassette, the film sensing component is spring-urged to rotate the closing component to partially close the light lock and to be positioned for engagement with the thumbwheel. Then, the thumbwheel is rotated in the film winding direction to engage and move the closing device to fully close the light lock.